


the pillar of our days

by umbrellacam



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M, Speaking Russian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 20:57:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1200180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbrellacam/pseuds/umbrellacam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sid’s been practicing four words for Geno, for longer than he wants to admit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the pillar of our days

**Author's Note:**

> [[Source](http://smoke-and-oakum.tumblr.com/post/55754249366/ya-veryu-v-tebya-i-believe)] for the original post by [smoke-and-oakum](http://smoke-and-oakum.tumblr.com) that inspired this (reproduced below).

"Я верю в тебя." [YA veryu v tebya]

↳  _"I believe in you."_  


 

Four words. Sid’s been practicing four words for Geno, for longer than he wants to admit. Taylor, Flower, Mario - if they knew, they would maybe gently suggest a different three, but Sid knows better. For him and Geno, these four are the ones that really matter. The other ones can come later, if at all.

He listens to Russian tapes, clips of sappy romantic declarations and inspirational speeches alike. He swears Gonch to secrecy and then makes him correct Sidney’s accent at all hours, until he gets sworn at in a different way. He rolls the words awkwardly around newly crooked teeth and a creaky jaw, because they weren’t hard enough already. He stops practicing in public when In The Room cameras catch him muttering to himself during his pre-game stretches up and down the hall, but doesn’t stop entirely because he can’t say it to Geno unless it’s perfect. He just can’t.

He’s famed and ridiculed for his perfect media soundbites, but Sid doesn’t consider himself good with words. He’s not a rah-rah captain, he doesn’t give inspiring speeches. He speaks with his actions, and makes sure they always speak loud enough. So every time he and Geno bump fists and foreheads and Sid strides out onto the ice without having to look back, he knows that he’s already saying the same thing in a different language. And every time Sid feels the brief touch to the small of his back as he steps out, he knows Geno hears him just fine.

Maybe that’s why he can take the time he needs to get it right before he says it out loud.

—Or maybe it’s game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, and the clock has already run out in regulation on a tie, and he doesn’t have any time at all.

There’s a deep, rattling hum in the air. Overtime. The roar of the crowd, his teammates’ harsh, panting breaths - all of it dims down, down, to the sting of icy air, the sweat dripping from Sid’s curls into his eyes, and the bowed curve of Geno’s neck.

He’s leaning on his knees, hunched over as if in prayer, and Sid slides in so close their helmets almost touch again - all their years and dreams and promises wound tight in the centimeters between them.

The first time he tries to say it, the syllables stick in his throat, like wrapping his tongue around them unvoiced has become a ritual he can’t bring himself to break. But they’ve been thrumming louder in Sid’s chest every minute he and Geno have been on the ice—every minute they’ve known each other—until now - now they thunder with his heartbeat.

"Geno,” he murmurs finally. It’s the most important word—the one he never had to practice, the foundation—and once it’s laid the rest roll out warm and worn with use. “Я верю в тебя."

_I believe in you._

Geno inhales sharply, the sound almost lost in his already labored breathing. After a moment, he tilts his head just far enough that he can catch Sid’s gaze, eyes lit and wondering.

Then he smiles, slow and joyous and fierce, and certainty thrills in Sidney’s bones.

"Sid,” Geno answers. “Я верю в нас.”

_I believe in **us.**_

Their visors touch, and nothing else exists. Sidney looks past the reflection of his own eyes into Geno’s, and everything he sees there means victory.

Sid skates toward center ice without having to look back.


End file.
